I’m actually happy to read this, since I think it’s taking historicism to a rather ridiculous level (yes, I know, this from someone who wants to make a shirt from seed) to insist on woad rather than indigo for blue dyeing.  But I’m relieved to have an answer to people who say ‘but indigo is a post-period dye’ – which is a mis-statement on many levels – indigofera is a post-Period DYEPLANT, the dye indigo is the same from woad and indigofera, it just occurs in more density in the latter.  It also occurs in other plants.  The job of … Continue reading Whoa! Dangers of growing European dye plants

(Geez – half this blog is about garb.  I keep telling people that once I get a weeks-worth of clothing pulled together I’m going to focus on other things, but experienced SCAdians just laugh…) Here’s some sites that may be useful. FABRICLinen – http://fabrics-store.com/http://denverfabrics.com/http://www.bblackandsons.com/ NOTIONSBrass lacing rings – http://www.celticsun.biz/ RESEARCHhttp://moas.atlantia.sca.org/wsnlinks/index.php?action=displaycat&catid=10http://www.ece.uwaterloo.ca/~arnora/arnora/costumehdbk.htmhttp://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/shoe/SHOEHOME.HTMhttp://www.revivalclothing.com/http://www.siue.edu/COSTUMES/COSTUME1_INDEX.HTMLhttp://www.netherton.net/robin/http://www.sewingcentral.com/cgi-bin/Web_store/web_store.cgi?page=index.html&cart_id=8867465_32158http://www.florilegium.org/ Web Gallery of Art ABC Gallery BOOKSA History of Costume by Carl KohlerMedieval Tailors Assistant: Making Common Garments 1200-1500 Sarah Thursfield The Book of Costume Millia Davenport Survey of Historic Costume Phyllis Tortora and Keith Eubank The History of Costume: from Ancient Mesopotamia through the Twentieth Century Blanche Payne et … Continue reading Costuming supply sites

out of 4 yards of handkerchief-weight linen, for ~$7/yard? (I was cutting out handwork projects for our car trip this weekend.) Answer:  2 shifts, an apron, a fillet & barbette, and an extra square of headwrap.  That’s quite the bargain.  I did cheat a little, in that the shifts are short with finished side vents rather than proper mid-shin-length with gores.  (I want to be able to wear them as thigh-length blouses in mundane life.)  I tried out the ‘short shift in hot weather’ aspect at RUM, and it was fine.  I want to research more about underwear, though. Does … Continue reading How many shifts can you get…

I’m still trying to learn how to spin a fine, strong linen thread, in pursuit of making a ‘cambric shirt’.  I’m learning that ‘fine’ and ‘strong’ are totally relative terms. A) Hostess talked about the difficulties of weaving 16-singles linen – that it kept breaking, and had to be done over a humidifier.  If ’16’ refers to 16 wraps-per-inch, then that’s not so fine thread. B) I’ve spun linen in three ways so far: Spinning with wheel, from hank in hand, moving hand to the right (Z), wet fingers, 32wpi. Spinning with supported drop spindle, from prespliced ribbon kept wet … Continue reading Spinning fine linen – more Zs

From the Natural Dyes Yahoo List: Natural dyed garments have many properties that are beneficial to our health and are absent in synthetic dyed versions. Prominent among these are the ability to absorb UV-radiation, bind to diesel fumes (suspected to clog arteries) and change colour by the action of free-radicals in detergent solutions. The tannic acid mordant and the natural dye have multiple double bonds that enable it to absorb light in the UV-region. This effect can be seen by draping a natural dyed fabric on a UV-A lamped used to acquire a tan and placing a flourescent item (synthetic … Continue reading Benefits of natural dyes

I was actually given some cochineal recently – unfortunately I haven’t got a prickly pear plant to infest with it, and as I haven’t messed with the plastic container the buggies are in…they’re probably dead by now. If I want to get more, here’s places to try.Maiwa Aurora Silk Continue reading Dyeing with Cochineal

From the Spindlers group on Yahoo!  This is freaking me out with natty detail that I’m not sure matters.  I typically spin counter-clockwise, which according to the Interweave handouts is S, but I should try it the other way (clockwise = Z) and see if it works better one way or the other. If you want a really shiny woven fabric, you want the warp spun one way and  the weft in the other.  All the twists will line up that way. > > Also I remembered reading once upon a time or hearing that ‘we’ used to spin S … Continue reading Z twist versus S twist